Springfield Double Drawings??

A Springfield 12g double shotgun came through the door yesterday. It's double triggerred and is occaisionally firing from both barrels.
I intend to pull it apart and take a look at it and source / make parts as neccesssary as a bit of a project job.
I don't know a great deal about springfield arms let alone shotguns. I have once dismantled, serviced and reassembled a Spanish double
that was no trick but this thing is giving me a little grief seperating the butt-stock from the action!
Does anyone know where I may be able to source a drawing for this gun or what model it might be?
The first pic shows the serial No: E58440 the second pic shows the side of the action with the Springfield insignia and the 3rd pic shows the tang with the tangscrew removed.
I had also removed the two trigger gaurd screws out and driven out the rear-most pin from the side plate which I assumed that the sears pivot on but didn't seem to effect the operation (cocking of the gun) once I'd removed it??
Stock wobbles on the action but just won't pull off. Was thinking there might be something else retaining the stock.
Any ideas?

Your springfield is a typical American made box lock.
Similar (if not identical) guns bare the Savage and Stevens names.
I inherited one in 16 gage, and had to do a little work on it.

Take the but plate off.
Bet you find a hole and a standard head machine screw at the bottom of it.

Remove that big old screw and the stock should slip right off.
You will find out it was not necessary to pull the trigger guard off the reciever or remove the other screw.


This old double is rather common and you should be able to find used parts from the usual suspects, but you may be able to refit the existing parts.

The action is rather simple and easy to understand, but they can be a bit troublesome to get appart, especialy if a moron tried to work on it before you.
The springs are tight and the pins dont always want to move easily. Be sure to use the correct punches when takeing them out.

Start by giving the old girl a good cleaning and see if that gets her working right.
Then look for rounded and worn sears and other issues of that nature.
You may find parts in these old shotguns are case hardened and have worn through the hard layer.

Replacement verses stoneing the profile of the sears back to shape will depend on how worn it is and how much gunk has gathered in the notches the sear engages in.

Thanks ahall,
The butt plate, of course!
it's nearing the middle of the night here so I'll check it out tomorrow.
I really didn't have time to spend a lot of time on it this afternoon in the shop but thought I'd sneak in half an hour to see if I can get it apart so that I could give a ballpark quote tommorrow.
Thanks for the extra advice. much appreciated. I'll let you know how I get on.
JB

JBCGUNS said:

Thanks ahall,
The butt plate, of course!
it's nearing the middle of the night here so I'll check it out tomorrow.
I really didn't have time to spend a lot of time on it this afternoon in the shop but thought I'd sneak in half an hour to see if I can get it apart so that I could give a ballpark quote tommorrow.
Thanks for the extra advice. much appreciated. I'll let you know how I get on.
JB

Click to expand...

Missed your location on the other side of the big pond.
You will find this gun is rather crude when compared to the stuff made in London.
Both in how its made and how it handles.

They were built as a put meat in the pot gun.
You could buy them in any hardware store.
It was never intended to look sexy at the range.

The up side is home made parts will work fine, and things dont need to fit like a swiss watch to function.
I think the photos show the Stevens name as well on the frame.

As a rule when it has a screw under the top leaver it means that you have a double tang gun. There may be a screw ahead and behind the fire control that have to be removed. If so the screws must be removed and the upper and lower tangs separated to pull the action from the stock. You may also have to remove either the sear pin, or hammer pin. This is best done with a 3 ton arbor or hydraulic press. It saves screwing up pins and punches and banging up the receiver.

Speerchucker,

Normaly I let your experiance pervail, but in this case I have an example of the same gun.
Got it when my grandfather passed. I would have passed on it in a yard sale, but you keep grandpas guns.
I had to take it appart and make some new parts when the self cocking system wore out.
The water table, standing breach, upper tang and lower tang are made as one piece.

These are usualy no frills guns, - extractors (not ejectors), minimal if any checkering, poor polishng, heavy barrels.

Put it next to an LC Smith and you will easily see the difference in workmanship.
Set it next to a Purdy and it looks down righ sorry.

None the less, she is a good solid work horse that will consistanty put meet in the pot and you dont mind draging it through the brush.

Got it all apart last night. It was actually embarrassingly easy once I found the hidden screw.
The left (rear trigger) sear only had half the engagement on the firing pin that the right one had and they were both rounded so the owner's concerns were probably right. I say this because I have seen inexperienced shooters of these double triggerred guns strike the second trigger during recoil and blame it on the gun. God knows I recall recieving some nasty bruises as a 13 yr old from my fathers double because of that same habit!
Ahall, you were right, they aren't fancy but are easy to understand. The contact end of the sears look differentially case hardened? I have corrected the angles on both sears with a diamond file and fine diamond lap. Surfaces still seem pretty hard. Have also removed the same amount from the groove at the bottom of the sear which rides alolng the trigger so in theory, trigger pull (travel) will remain around where it should be.
No problems with the sear spring. Degreased reassembled and re-oiled. Passed rigourous safety testing with snap caps and I'm happy with it.
A few more pics below showing "the screw" through the butt and a general view of the mechanism.

Yep,

No fun when a SXS doubles, especialy a 12 or 10.

Had it happen once with an external hammered 12.
Lock time was rather slow, so the second barrel went off at the highest point of the recoil.
Hit my glasses hard enough to leave a small cut.

Case hardening and through hardened are both possabilities on these old shotguns.
Manufacturing processes and materials evolved with time, but the basic design endured
As long as the surfaces are hard, they will last for a while.